Thanks to Eric Lindskog for the photo.
You haven’t seen posts for a while because I’ve been on my annual backpacking trip to the Grand Canyon. Which brings me to this post.
Some of the materials we’re familiar with from the building and home improvement industry are making their way into my pack. Here’s an example–a super light tent made of Tyvek (a Tarptent “Sublite”, by Henry Shirers). It sheds rain water well, and the breathable fabric really seems to prevent water condensing on the inside. The tent worked great during a couple of like showers. And the inside stayed dry on a couple of humid nights when I would have expected condensation. At 18.5 ounces it’s a welcome change from the 4-6 lbs of yesteryear. (And it fit my less-than-svelte 6’5″ frame just fine.)
Plus, it’s warmer than sleeping under the stars on chilly nights to boot!
BTW, this is a zero-energy tent–it uses no electricity or heating/air-conditioning. Thanks, DuPont! Dow, let’s see if you can up the stakes (no tent pun intended).
Thanks,
Mike
Tags: backpacking, Dow, DuPont, Grand Canyon, GreenHomes, Henry Shires, lightweight, photo, tartpent, Tyvek, ultralight
April 14, 2010 at 3:46 pm |
how did you fit your big XXX inside such a small tent? Do you sleep sitting upright?
April 14, 2010 at 5:03 pm |
No, standing. He’s so tall he’s had to do that for years, no big horizontal places in that canyon. There’s a deep hole under that tent, it’s basically just a hat.
April 14, 2010 at 4:58 pm |
Excellent! I’ve been thinking about a new cover for my tipi, maybe this would work. Did you by chance do the sewing yourself? How did that go?
April 14, 2010 at 5:06 pm |
No, I bought it. Henry Shires (http://www.tarptent.com/) does a great job figuring out the tent design/geometry/construction (I’ll stick to homes!). Couple of things–this is the clothing grade tyvek, not the building wrap. Softer and quieter! And more importantly, I think you can expect UV degradation becoming significant in less than 1,000 hours. Not that big a deal for a backpacking tent which is only exposed to sporadic sunlight (going up late and coming down early), but it would be a factor for a continuously standing structure.
April 14, 2010 at 7:46 pm |
Is it snore-proof?
April 15, 2010 at 8:49 am |
Does it come in camo?